Adam Turner is an award-winning Australian freelance technology journalist with a passion for gadgets and the "digital lounge room".

Game of Thrones triggers power struggles both on and off the screen. Photo: supplied

After waiting patiently for months, iTunes customers probably won't see Game of Thrones Season 4 until next year.

HBO's exclusive deal with Foxtel stopped local competitors like iTunes and Quickflix offering week-by-week episodes of Game of Thrones in Australia this year. Rivals couldn't even offer the first episode of Season 4 until Foxtel finished screening entire season, which wrapped up on Monday. By Tuesday morning Quickflix and Google Play had all of Season 4 online, but it's still missing from the Australian iTunes store and Apple doesn't want to talk about it.

As strange as it sounds, Australians don't appreciate how good they've had it when it comes to Game of Thrones.

When I asked Apple's Australian PR team on Monday about plans to release the new episodes of Game of Thrones on the iTunes store I was told to "reach out to the content owners directly" – which is the kind of answer we've come to expect from Apple when it doesn't want to talk about something. It's a response which implies that HBO or local distributor Warner Bros is to blame for the situation, rather than Apple.

Following Apple's advice I did reach out to Warner Bros, which supplies Game of Thrones to Quickflix and Google Play. The Warner Bros Australian PR team put the ball squarely back in Apple's court;

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"That is a question you would have to ask iTunes. Game of Thrones Season 4 is available for all of our digital partners from June 17th."

It's a response which strongly implies that Game of Thrones Season 4 is available to Apple in Australia, but it's chosen not to take it. Why? Warner Bros didn't want to discuss it further and my followup calls to Apple PR are yet to yield an answer. I don't expect to get one, even though I think iTunes customers are entitled to one.

So when will Australian iTunes customers see Game of Thrones Season 4 and what will they do in the meantime?

It's worth noting that the new season of Game of Thrones isn't available on the US iTunes store either. Unlike Australia, the US store didn't offer Season 3 week-by-week last year. It held out until January – coinciding with the DVD/Blu-ray release. It's likely that Apple will take the same approach to Season 4 in both the US and Australia, sticking to the DVD/Blu-ray release date of January 2015.

Unfortunately Australian Game of Thrones fans are caught up in a turf war between two industry heavyweights. It's a classic old verus new-media struggle, with HBO and Apple each playing hardball to show that they won't be dictated to by the other. If Apple can't have Game of Thrones week-by-week then it's not going to leap when HBO finally throws it a bone, even if it means leaving customers in the lurch.

As strange as it sounds, Australians don't appreciate how good they've had it when it comes to Game of Thrones. In the US you can't even watch it on the HBO GO streaming service unless you have a home HBO subscription, unlike here where there's the option of Foxtel Play.

For now Apple's delay is costing HBO lost sales, although this is offset by the extra money Foxtel paid HBO for exclusive rights to Season 4. Of course the delay is also costing Apple lost sales, with some of those customers turning to Quickflix and Google Play for their Game of Thrones fix. Of course others will certainly turn to BitTorrent in disgust at the fact that Apple is putting its power struggle with HBO ahead of the needs of its customers who waited patiently for the season to finish screening on Foxtel. An industry which is quick to complain about piracy seems to be doing its best to drive away paying customers.

To be fair to Apple, these kinds of deals are never black and white. HBO does have a history of refusing to play nicely with others when it comes to Game of Thrones. The recent deal between HBO and Amazon in the US specifically excludes Game of Thrones in order to thwart cable cutters looking to abandon their HBO subscription. HBO knows Game of Thrones is the Ace up its sleeve.

Apple and HBO/Warner Bros can point the finger at each other all they like, but it doesn't change the fact that Apple should at least be honest with its customers about what's happening with Game of Thrones. For now it looks like Australian iTunes customers need to go elsewhere to catch up on the latest happenings in Westeros.

Were you waiting for iTunes to offer Season 4 of Game of Thrones? What will you do now?

59 comments so far

...And they wonder why so many Aussies pirate everything. Stop treating us like second rate citizens!

Commenter

Radknight

Location

Australia

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 12:43PM

No wonder there's rampant piracy. This is the exact equivalent of Woolworths displaying rip-off Gillette razors on a table out in front of their store overnight. No difference. How many would you expect to find in the morning? If they want to protect their IP then THEY need to fix their broken business model, not look to the taxpayer to fund some idiotic enforcement regime. Offer us content when it is released, don't create artificial barriers.

Commenter

luke

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 2:31PM

This has been blown out of all proportion. If someone ordered a $3 coffee and then walked out and refused to pay it surely would be illegal but what would be the legal penalty? Certainly not thousands of dollars in fines and possible gaol sentence as Brandis is proposing. Please people, this is a minor, petty crime.

Commenter

luke

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 2:38PM

There is no excuse to steal (that's what pirates do, they steal), you can legally watch it the day it screens in the US but, just like viewers in the US, you have to pay for it. Or if you were waiting, there are now two local streaming services you can get it from.

Commenter

MotorMouth

Location

Sydney

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 3:10PM

My understanding of the way the iTunes Store works is that the content providers choose when to make content available, not Apple. Apple can refuse apps and may block some content based on "appropriateness", but generally it is the content provider who decides when it becomes available for sale. In this case I would be pushing Warner to explain in more detail why, if it is Apple's decision, aren't Warner pushing Apple to make the content available - surely Warner would be losing out on $$$ and would be upset with Apple?

Commenter

arb

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 12:51PM

Tend to agree.. it all sounds a bit suss. iTunes is a shop and of the other shops (Quickflix, Google Play) are selling it, I can't imagine a reason why they wouldn't want to as well. Just makes no sense.

Commenter

Harvey K-Tel

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 1:38PM

As mentioned, its a power struggle. You have the content providers (HBO) and you have the distributors (iTunes). Both have flexed their muscle this year. If Apple doesn't air GOT the HBO don't get any royalties. If HBO don't let Apple show GOT the Apple don't get any sales. The only people left out of the equation are those wanting to watch TV.

Regards

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

June 18, 2014, 7:13PM

That's not how it works with Movies and TV shows, there's no self publishing in that space, it all goes through approved studios or aggregators, there's significant QA processes, and finally Apple decide on a release schedule for all the content *offered* to them, they have final say in what content will make it to the iTunes store in the case of Movies and TV Shows.

Commenter

John

Date and time

June 19, 2014, 6:19AM

"... I can't imagine a reason why they wouldn't want to as well."

Uhhh.. because they're Apple, and they don't care about customers?

Commenter

btg

Date and time

June 19, 2014, 6:26AM

I waited and waited for the end of the season so that I can binge watch it on Apple TV willing to pay whatever exorbitant price they'd charge.

Given the lack of love from Apple/ HBO, it's off to the friendly, local office pirate for me.